𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐔 ─ lee jeno

𝟒𝟕 | 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧

To say that the atmosphere was awkward would be an understatement. Out of the five people there, two don't know who Jeno is, only one of the older people knows who Renjun is, everyone knows Hyesoo, and Hyesoo has been reunited with not one, but two people from her youthful past.

So, yes. The atmosphere was not only awkward, but suffocating.

But, Renjun was never one to let his emotions get the best of him - what he liked to call an indirect insult to his apparent "stone cold" friend. Instead of acting like he didn't know Hyesoo at all, the Chinese boy took the approach, which most likely made Jeno shoot lasers into his back, where he stood up and extended his hand towards Hyesoo.

"Long time, no see, Hyesoo. How've you been?" He asked out of common courtesy.

Hyesoo approached the conversation, slightly stunned that Renjun actually remembered her, but . She smiled, "Good, Renjun. How about you?"

"Oh, you know. Finished school, did some interning, and now I'm painting full time," He beamed, "You know Jeno." Renjun reminded, just in case.

Hyesoo let out a small 'ah' in a bit of awkwardness before sitting down. Minghao raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Wait, you two know each other?"

The girl nodded, "We went to the same college before I moved to America. We were only acquaintances back then... so I didn't think there was any need to tell him about my leave."

"So that's where you've been," Jeno thought to himself, nodding to show his interest. If there was any skill he developed over the years, it was observation. The boy found himself looking and perceiving, and that's how he gained most of his information. And that's also what he was doing. It may be slightly weird that Jeno was taking a business approach to this, but the boy doesn't really have much else now, does he?

"Ah, I see," Minghao let out, "Oh, which reminds me. You promised you would come to L.A. to see 2SEO's first country-wide broadcasted fashion show," The older Chinese boy sulked.

Renjun gave an apologetic smile, "Sorry, my friend got married at the same time, and I couldn't miss it."

"Marriage? At that age? Must've been really in love, who was it?" Johnny questioned.

"This guy," Renjun pointed at Jeno.

"I see you got married a little later than I anticipated," Hyesoo thought. She too was a master observator. She didn't take any classes or learnt through lessons. But, the girl did have to save her friends from an awfully concerning amount of escape rooms to know how to learn from what she can see by the plain eye.

"Really?" Johnny and Minghao asked in astonishment.

Jeno chuckled, "Yeah. Arranged marriage. We got a divorce about four years ago," The boy explained.

"Divorce? He's single now?" Hyesoo thought.

"Damn, that must suck," Minghao stated.

Jeno shook his head, "Not really. We're still friends, and she's happily married off now. Besides, we didn't really love each other in a romantic way, so it ended off well."

Johnny laughed, "That's like the ideal divorce," He said, beginning to laugh at his own comment.

"Anyways, Jeno were you acquaintances with Hyesoo as well?" Minghao asked, completely ignoring his partner's probable insanity.

"Acquaintances? Jeno and Hyesoo used to have a budding relationshi-" The boy began, before slapping his hand over his mouth in realisation.

Jeno and Hyesoo stared at Renjun with open eyes. If this wasn't an already awkward situation, the conversation took a massive turn towards one.

The younger Chinese boy cleared his throat, "Minghao-ge, do you wanna catch up now?" Renjun asked, changing the topic for the sake of his friend and also him.

Minghao nodded, "Yeah, sure. Youngho, Soo, we'll be talking here. If you need anything, don't."

Soon after the two began to converse in Chinese by themselves, Johnny stood up. "Sorry guys, but I have some pictures I need to edit as well," The older boy exclaimed.

"It's okay, you have to get it done by next week," Hyesoo reassured, standing up as well. She needed to leave the situation between Minghao and Renjun, the very few Chinese courses she took wasn't enough to allow her to understand the conversation and being there would just make the mood tense. The girl planned to head upstairs to her office and rest there until Johnny was done, so she didn't have to take the bus again.

However, Hyesoo's conscious was always clouding her selfish judgement. She really didn't want to do what she was about to, but her mind always was a nicer person than her ego wanted her to be. She turned around, facing the boy she was going to ignore, "Do you wanna talk?" She asked, nodding her head upstairs.

Jeno shrugged and nodded, following the shorter girl upstairs into her office. Hyesoo sat down on the lounge chair, staring at the boy who was awkwardly standing there. She motioned her hand towards a seat opposite of her, to which the boy complied to and sat down.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

the awkwardness is unbearable. even for me ugh. might double update
also i have an imagines book with a bunch of random stories if u wanna check tht out lol